Byron D. Shear

Oklahoma City's seventeenth mayor was born May 12, 1869 in Hillsboro, Wisconsin. Byron Delos Shear graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1889 and came to Oklahoma the following year. Prior to becoming mayor he worked in law and served as the territory’s first district court clerk. Shear became mayor upon the resignation of Mayor Edward Overholser in December of 1918. He was also the brother-in-law of former mayor Oscar Mitscher. A prominent attorney, he was at one point also the president of the state bar association. Shear suffered a heart attack and died on June 9, 1929. He is buried in Rose Hill Burial Park.